It is the west bank of the river Beas. It is early morning. The godly soul is sitting on the bank, immersed in the love of the Lord. Mardana is singing a divine song. The heavens are showering ecstasy. In solitude and peace, the singing of divine songs is giving rapture.
The sun rose. The beloved Guru opened his eyes. He looked towards the heavens, then towards the river and then around and sang the following lines in a sweet tune:
I live, when O Lord, you live in my mind. When you are in my mind, I am in ecstasy and rapture. Then, he stood up and said: One prophet will come here. Here, divine hymns will be sung. This place will become a flourishing town.
Saying this, he moved ahead. On the third day, he reached a village. Here, the Guru liked a place and he sat down under a tree.
Early morning, Mardana sang a divine song. The Guru was the listener and Mardana the singer and the trees, plants and fields were the inspiration.
Next day, one lady brought food. The lady, herself, served food to the Guru and Mardana. Mardana, after having food, said: After eating this food, I remember the food that mom used to serve.
The Guru said: Like the butter goes into the bread, love also gets into things. Love means to love others.
They stayed there for a couple of days and then they started the journey ahead. On the third day, they reached a village. Here, was a beautiful lake and lot of berry trees.
He sat under a berry tree. He rested at night and early in the morning, Mardana played the rebeck and the Guru sang a divine song:
0 Lord, I do not, now or ever, Ask anything except one thing: Keep me immersed in your love. Nanak is a pied Cuckoo,
1 wish raindrops only.
Before leaving he said: One prophet will come. A temple will be constructed. The town will flourish.
Moving ahead, he stayed at Lahore under a fig tree.
Here, he stayed for a short period only and then, moved forward and reached Eminabad. At that time it was called Saidpur Sandyali. Here, the Guru came to the house of a carpenter and loudly said: Lord is great.
This person used to make wooden pegs. He was simple and it appeared as if he had a rough nature.
On listening to the voice, Lalo came out. When he saw the Guru, he fell at his feet.
Then the Guru said: Well Lalo, I have come and I have started my travels in India and abroad.
Lalo had tears of love in his eyes. His head bowed and he took the guru inside his house.
Mardana, the Guru's companion was astonished. He said to himself: The servants of the grocery store stood in his service with folded hands. The governor was giving him so much salary. He had so much comfort of the house, an obedient wife and a saintly sister. He has left all. On the way, wherever we stayed, it was quite distressing, and now where have we come today? There is no bed, no chair, no carpet and no sheet even.
Meanwhile, Lalo brought a chair from outside. Then the Guru sat on the chair. For quite sometime, there was no talk from both sides. It was tranquility. Then, Lalo went to the kitchen and cooked food.
Now, Mardana asked the Guru: O Guru, who is this person whom you have come to meet? You have left your home. You have left your town. Where have you come?
The Guru laughed and said: Mardana, I have come to a house of piousness. Here is an earning with honesty and a mind that is enlightened with the love of the Lord.
Now, the food was ready and Lalo said: Please come to the kitchen and have food.
The Guru said: The ground is the same everywhere. When the mind is immersed in the Lord's love, then the ground is sacred wherever you sit. You bring the food here only.
When Lalo brought the coarse grain bread and the green leafy vegetable, then Mardana said to his mind: O, where have we come? This dry bread won't go down my throat. But O.K. Whatever the Guru likes, I should accept. Eat and feel happy to eat. In this thinking, he ate the food, but after eating he felt the deliciousness of nectar.
When the Guru finished eating food, then Lalo fell at the Guru's feet. The Guru blessed him and Lalo's mind that was in ascetic practices earlier, got immersed in the Lord's love now. Previously, he was meditating with effort. Today, he got the Lord's love. He got ecstasy.
In this house, in a small mud hut, the Guru stayed for three days and then got ready to go. But Lalo, with folded hands and tears in his eyes said: Please don't go so quickly, stay for a few more days. Bless me and then go.
Seeing his love, the Guru extended his stay there. Now his daily routine was like this: Early morning, he would go and sit in meditation on a platform of stones or sand and get immersed in the love of the Lord. People call it Hath yoga, but it was not Hath yoga of the body as such. His mind was immersed in the Lord's love.
In the town, people started talking that one Bedi Khatri is practicing extreme Hath yoga. He doesn't eat or drink anything. He keeps on sitting on a platform of stones or sand at one place in deep meditation and does not move. He eats only a few buds of wild flower. They also talked: Although, he is Bedi, but he is staying in the house of a carpenter of low caste. He has a companion also who is a Mohammedan singer.
When Mardana went out in the town, people would say: See, there he goes, the singer companion of the misguided, who is mixing the upper caste with the low caste.
A few days later, Mardana took permission from the Guru, and went home but the Guru continued to stay here. The Guru stayed here for quite some time. Some people were coming and getting his blessings.
One day, a group of Brahmins came to advise him: O Guru, you stick to the caste system. You are an upper caste Bedi Khatri.
But after listening to the Guru's thoughtful reasoning, they had no answer to give. Now, they called him Nanak, the ascetic. Some Mohammedans called him Nanak Shah. Many people started coming to him for his blessings.
The Brahmins and the Mohammedan priests became envious. They were afraid that if all the people started going to him, then who would come to us?
In Eminabad, the governor was a Pathan called Khan. He was like a king. Malik Bhago was an official under him. The Mohammedan priests started tale telling to Khan and the Hindu Brahmins went to Malik Bhago. They also adopted other means, so that the Guru may leave the town.
A day came, when Malik Bhago arranged a feast for the Brahmins and sadhus at his house where all delicacies like fried bread, sweet fried bread, Indian snacks, milk pudding and sweets of different types were to be served. All the Brahmins and sadhus were invited. The fretful Brahmins also invited the Guru. They anticipated that probably the Guru won't come and Malik will be angry with him.
It just happened like that. The Guru did not go to his house for feasting.
Then, the Brahmins made an insinuation: See Malik, how proud is Guru Nanak? He has not accepted your invitation.
Then, Malik got furious and he asked one Brahmin: Go, and ask the Guru to meet me.
When the Brahmin went to the Guru, the Guru said: I am a holy man, I have no work with big people.
When the Guru did not go, then the Brahmins made more malevolent insinuations to Malik against the Guru.
Malik got more furious. Then, he sent five men and instructed them: If the Guru does not come on your asking, then bring him by force.
The Guru listened to the order, laughed and went to meet Malik. Here, many people were sitting. The Guru went inside and stood there.
Then, Malik said: O, ascetic, you are having food with low caste people, and you do not come to sacred feasts for Brahmins, and then you have a low caste Muslim singer as your companion and you hate us who are upper caste Khatris. Why is it so?
The Guru said: I am the Lord's holy man. Wherever the Lord gives, I eat there.
Then, Malik said: You should have come to my feast also. The Guru said: O.K. Malik, then you get some fried bread from your feast.
The Guru also asked Lalo to bring a bread of coarse grain from his house. When both came, then the Guru held fried bread in one hand and coarse grain bread in the other hand and raised his arms and squeezed both.
See! From the coarse grain bread milk drops oozed down and from the fried bread blood drops oozed down. When everybody saw this, the entire gathering from the town was dazed. They realized that this ascetic is powerful. He has supernatural powers.
Malik was angry but he felt ashamed also.
The Guru said: The acacia seed has no thorns. But when the tree comes up, then the thorns grow. Similarly the fried bread and other delicacies are delicious to eat but when a man of God eats these, then he feels pain.
Saying this, he came out and went to Lalo's hut where he was staying.
It so happened that the son of the Pathan King of Sandyali became ill.
One day, he said to Malik Bhago: My son is sick and his condition is deteriorating day by day. No medicine is doing any good.
Then, Malik said: Your Excellency, prayers of a saint is the right answer. If a saint comes and prays for the health of your son, he will become all right. But the saint should be miraculous. A real saint is one who is immersed in the Lord's love. But people generally consider a saint real if he is able to perform miracles.
Khan said: Who is a miraculous saint? How do I know?
Malik said: You call all the sadhus and keep them in captivity and tell them: I will make you free only when my son gets well. Then, whoever is a real saint will show his miracle.
Then, the Khan's men brought all the sadhus whose name Malik had suggested. Guru Nanak was also brought. Malik had suggested his name as well.
All the sadhus brought by the Khan's men were sitting when Lalo came, after hearing that Guru Nanak has been taken as a captive by the Khan's men. On seeing the Guru in captivity he wept.
O World! You never understood the saints who came to allay your suffering. You never respected them and you never stopped to give them suffering.
The Guru said: Lalo, don't feel sad. See the Lord's drama. This also is a miracle of His.
Khan came and said: O, men of God. You make my son well. Pray that he should be all right.
All the sadhus kept quiet, but the Guru spoke: O Khan, have you heard grapes growing on an acacia tree?
Khan said: No.
The Guru said: Then, how can you expect that force can bring grace.
It meant that you have brought the sadhus by force and put them in captivity and they have a feeling of suffering. How can grace come from suffering minds?
When Khan listened to this, then he realized that this ascetic is telling the truth. Then, because of the sentiment of the son, he became humble and said: Be gracious, O man of Lord.
The Guru said: O Khan, let everything happen by itself as per the Lord's wish.
Khan became more humble now. He begged pardon and said: Please pray for my son's health and make him all right.
Guru Nanak could do miracles but generally he kept himself away from showing miracles. It came to his mind that this mad Khan is being cruel to the sadhus. They should be freed. Some of them are Lord loving and they are in captivity for no fault of theirs. The Lord shall be happy to allay their suffering. He loves pious people. Then, the Guru closed his eyes and opened and said: O Khan, your son's health is in the leftovers of the saints.
Khan said: Whatever, you make him all right.
Then, the Guru said: Lalo, go and bring bread from your house.
Lalo went and brought bread and that was given to the Khan's son to eat. After eating the same the Khan's son became all right.
Khan was dazed to see how powerful the Guru was? Malik Bhago who was standing near was stunned and started trembling with fear. All the people were dazed and the sadhus who were brought by force were all astonished.
Next day, Malik Bhago came to the Guru and said: I beg your pardon. I was disrespectful to you.
Then, the Guru said: My insult? Insult to Nanak? Nanak is not insulted. You be afraid of the insult that you have done to yourself and to the people and you are doing to the Lord. See, the animals and the birds move the whole day for food. In other words this is their earning and they fill their bellies. They are always happy, always healthy and the birds are always flying in the sky. Hard work is the key to honest earning. Hard work keeps the body healthy. Hard work helps on the path towards the Lord.
Money earned by fleecing the people and by deceiving the people and then, accumulating that wealth and then sit on it like a snake is an illness of the body, mind and soul. See you have lost your inner self. You have wasted your inner self. You have killed your inner self. Have mercy on your inner self. Awaken your inner self. Put a seedling of the Lord's name in your inner self.
The Guru explained to him: Your mind has become dirty by being cruel
to the people. This is an illness and lifelessness.
Malik: Now, my mind has got a jolt. Whatever you say is sweet for me. You only tell, how can I do labor in this old age and with this lazy body?
The Guru said: A king sitting on the throne is labor. A labor with a basket on his head is labor. A shopkeeper weighing goods at the shop is labor if he respects the Lord and is afraid of Him. Your being an officer is labor if you are honest, you don't accept bribe and you are not cruel. All occupations, all jobs are labor if done with honesty. Whether somebody has been given a job or it is a self-chosen work, dishonesty kills the hard work done. A laborer with a basket on the head, a grocer with a weighing scale, an officer, a king who does justice, preaching of a saint, is all labor, if done without deception.
Everything becomes Lord's grace if you remember the Lord while doing all the chores.
Taking money from the farmer, who sweats out the whole day on his land, and after paying taxes, hardly saves anything for food, is fleecing the farmer. Again, to take money by threatening from a trader is squeezing his blood. Like, you prick the neck of an animal to get blood. Similarly, taking money forcibly from somebody's earning is taking blood.
On listening to the Guru's words, Malik Bhago fell at the Guru's feet and became a disciple. He distributed the money that he had earned extra by taking bribes and became a pious man. He started reciting the Lord's name and started doing justice properly. He became contented with honest earning.
In the biography is written: On seeing humility in Malik Bhago, the Guru said: Bhago, Say, O Lord. Say, O Lord.
He blessed him with the Lord's name.
Then, Khan came and fell at the Guru's feet and asked for forgiveness.
The Guru said: Both of you go and ask forgiveness from the sadhus.
Then, both of them went and asked forgiveness from the sadhus and made them free with reverence.
Malik Bhago said, O Lord, O Lord and the Name settled in his mind, heart and body cells. He got ecstasy.
The Guru said: Honest earning and the Lord's name should go together.
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